It is believed that over 80 million barrels of oil are consumed per day and that, on average, about 40% of the oil being consumed is transported via pipeline. Often oil pipelines are hundreds of miles long and transect remote and hazardous terrain that is not easily accessible. Because of the volume of oil being transported daily, it is vital to be able to quickly and accurately monitor such pipelines. Such monitoring is important not only to business operations but also to addressing environmental and health safety issues.
Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide sensor networks that efficiently and timely provide information to appropriate parties regarding pipelines.